Pallid
by A Vague Shape In The Dark
Summary: Blackpool one-shots. Mainly consisting of Natalie/Peter.
1. Chips

_A/N: Written while half-asleep and listening to Gaga's ARTPOP for the first time. Ay-yi-yi. _

* * *

A sheet of total darkness cascaded upon the sands, bathing Natalie and Peter in its shadow as they sat in an abandoned bus stop.

It was late and they were up to no good, thinking sad thoughts after visiting a chip stand.

The showy lights of Blackpool flickered on and off, tinting the necks and shoulders of the lovers in glowy pinks, reds and the occasional yellow, but their forms otherwise remained in darkness.

Natalie folded the ends of paper surrounding her chips, mind elsewhere. Peter was sitting beside her, licking his fingers, his chips mostly gone. His mind stuck on that very fact.

Looking away from the mess of cardboard and waste paper in his lap, Peter, chewing, breathed heavily through his nose. "It's lovely out here at night."

"Yeah," she sighed. "If you try not to think about what you're really seeing."

"Ach, you're bleak tonight."

"Sorry. Just... I donno. Not feeling up to snuff." She placed a chip in her mouth.

"You want to leave?"

"I don't think I want these," she said, handing the tray of greasy potatoes to Peter, who - mid transaction - grinned and hurriedly pushed one into his mouth. "But, no. I'm fine here."

"You sure?"

Natalie nodded.

Peter nodded his head in return, smiling meekly. "When do you have to get back?"

"Not for a while. I told Ripley I was going out with a girlfriend."

"First time I've been anyone's girlfriend."

Natalie softly chuckled as she watched the water. It was evident she wasn't going to be completely with him tonight.

In silence the chips were inhaled. Peter raised and walked toward the water, red, yellow and white against black, and looked to the beautiful woman he'd left sitting neatly on a bench. Tossing the empty chip carton in a waste bin, he snaked his way back to her, bending at the waist, his arms stiff at his sides, akin to a hobgoblin shuffle. He pecked her cheek once and whispered: "let me."

Natalie blinked, trying to understand, but before she could react he placed his hands about her waist and slowly, passionately pressed his lips to the nape of her neck then to her mouth; his lower lip adhering to hers. He'd crawled into the booth, his knees under him.

"Peter," she struggled from his arms, "you can't. Someone might see us."

"At this time of night? We're in the middle of nowhere!"

"Peter-"

Stricken, he backed away. "I'm sorry... we have so little time together. I want to use it properly. I don't want to get back to the hotel and regret not acting on my feelings. I have enough problems as it is... laying awake wondering what you're doing. What you're thinking or wanting while I'm all the way over on the other side of town wishing I was beside you." He raked a hand over his face, through his hair. "Natalie, I live for this. For you. Please, just for now we'll go away, someplace where no one can see us. Just don't make me go another night wanting."

Natalie rolled her eyes as if to say "that's all men ever want". He gently gripped her arm, stopping her, his eyes searching her's. "You have to know I don't mean it that way. Of course I want to sleep with you, what sane bloke wouldn't?, but that's not what I was just talking about. I-" he tapped his chest, above his heart, "need you."


	2. Waow Waow

**Disclaimer:** I claim absolutely no rights to the characters or song (or Madonna's _Frozen)_ used in this story.

* * *

With one hand in his pocket and the other wrapped around a half-eaten pastry, DI Peter Carlisle lithely climbed the steps leading from Blackpool's beach to its gaily colored promenade.

Renewing the obscene pastries place between his teeth, Peter tolerated its dime store flavour until he could no longer and threw the blasted thing to the pavement. Smacking his lips - trying to rid his mouth of its unpleasantness - he groaned and wiped a sticky hand on his jacket.

Best get something proper to eat.

Opening the door to the Regency shopping mart, Peter raked a clean hand through his wind-swept hair and made his way to a shelf containing an abundant supply of sweets. He removed 3 bags of chocolates without taking the time to read the brand names first, and placed them under his arm as he hastened to the check-out.

"Stocking up for the kids tonight?" An elderly clerk asked as she rang up the 'king sized' packages.

"Kids?" He looked over his purchases in confusion, then, as his eyes shifted to the calendar displaying the age one must be to buy tobacco products, realized that the day happened to be All Hallows Eve. "Oh, no, no, no. These are for me."

"This ought to do you a while then," she mused, chuckling.

Peter was stoney faced. This was just his supply for the evening.

The clerk looked down, embarrassed. Changing the subject she asked what sort of day it was after having detected the scent of outdoors captured in the fibers of his suit. "Brisk," was his answer as he received his change. Slipping the notes into his pant pocket, he tore open a bag and removed a wrapped chocolate. "On me," he said, handing it to her.

"Ta." She smiled as he exited.

Peter tossed foil from a bon-bon to the ground and placed the chocolate on his tongue. Closing his eyes, lost in the madness known as Cadbury, he breathed in sharply though his nose, unaware that a smile had taken possession of his face.

Opening his eyes, after almost a minute in the void, he was met with the vision of Ripley Holden dressed as a young Elvis. He was standing across the street glaring at him with his mouth held slightly agape.

"Oi, you gettin' off or somethin'?" Ripley shouted.

Carlisle blinked but said nothing. Well, he couldn't exactly say it was that far from the truth. But, at the same time, he wasn't in the mood to let Holden off without a hook. At a slow pace Peter began to stalk the sidewalk opposite the Arcade, never breaking eye contact with Ripley.

"I've heard a few new interesting things about you and Mike Hooley," Peter said, popping another candy between his lips.

"Is that so?"

"Aye. And the source is pretty reliable."

Ripley, with his hands in his pockets, looked to his feet then back to Carlisle as the DI continued. "Just one little tidbit they shared is that they saw someone who looked suspiciously like you outside the Arcade in the wee hours of the morning on the night of Mr. Hooley's disappearance."

"Well, I'm sure your "reliable source'" - he eyed Hallworth, who was nearby, sipping from a thermos - "wouldn't know his ass from a hole in the ground."

Carlisle rubbed his left eye and inhaled.

"How many bloody times do I have to tell you I'm not guilty? And don't you have anything better to do then stand around outside my place!?"

"Always a pleasure Ripley. We'll be chatting again later, I'm sure." Peter turned to leave.

"Tosser."

Peter spun around and looked Ripley in the eye, for a good 5 seconds or so, before he saw Natalie Holden appear in the distance, treading the same sidewalk as he.  
His heart leapt for a second, thinking her path might lead to him, but she instead made her way to her husband. Peter had never even been in her line of sight.

Watching her seek the comfort of the man he loathed tore at him, made him feel as though his heart had been impaled.

All sound seemed to die and become replaced with an abrupt, melancholic tune. The sun took to hiding behind the clouds, leaving the landscape gray and bleak.  
And so, in this wasteland, Peter stood a different man. _"You only see what your eyes want to see. How can life be what you want it to be. You're frozen. When your heart's not open," _Peter sang, keeping perfectly still but for his hands. _"Mmmmm, if I could melt your heart." _

The wind abruptly whipped the tail of his coat into his face and he kept it there. Grabbing hold of it with thin fingers, Peter pulled it closer to him, hoping it would hide the emotion his face betrayed.

_"Mmmmmm, we'd never be apart."_ He stood watching Natalie, his lower lip exposing his teeth, the light disappearing from behind his eyes - stuck in the moment as Ripley paid more attention to Deaf Barry than his wife; yelling at the poor man simply because he'd left the building.

Natalie, who must have felt Peter's eyes boring into her, turned and looked straight into their sadness. He bent at the waist, his candy falling from the open bag to the pavement. _"Mmmmmm, you hold the key."_ He swayed back to his feet, awkwardly, leaving the candies where they lay. His coat fell from his grasp to cling to his ankles.

Fear registered on Natalie's face as she realized the danger of the situation. She couldn't allow Ripley to suspect anything might be going on between she and Carlisle. Looking to Peter with pleading eyes, she silently begged him to stay where he was and to stop what he was doing. He, from the ground, swallowed and nodded, whispering on the wind: "_If I lose you my heart will be broken." _

Natalie's eyes continued to follow him until they could no longer; as she was ushered inside on Ripley's urging.

Peter ran to the entrance of the building, tossing Natalie a candy while she was within sight. She caught the chocolate, and shot him a confused look before disappearing into darkness.

Hallworth watched from his seat outside the Arcade. Scratching behind his ear, he wondered why the mad Policeman had flung himself about the way he had whilst singing a tune by Madonna, only, to as a farewell, slip the owner's wife a sweet.

Peter inhaled, rather flushed, as he faced the outer world again. He did a double take as he caught sight of Hallworth's scowl. He removed a candy from one of his bags and handed it to the religious man.

"Ta," Hallworth said, nodding.


End file.
